The Supreme Court rejected a petition on Tuesday over whether fetuses are entitled to constitutional rights.
Justices declined the appeal brought by a Catholic group and two women who challenged a 2019 Rhode Island law that codified abortion rights. Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the 6-3 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade this summer, previously signaled the high court would not take a position on the question brought by opposition to the Rhode Island law.
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var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_65504340", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1114618"} }); ","_id":"00000183-c7ca-d5ff-a7af-dfdfc6160000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedAlthough the conservative majority allowed states to create laws severely restricting abortion access in the June 24 opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Alito wrote that the Supreme Court is not in a position to decide “if and when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth.”
CATHOLIC GROUP PETITIONS SUPREME COURT ON BEHALF OF UNBORN, SEEKS FETAL PERSONHOOD NATIONWIDE
Still, attorneys for the Catholic group urged the high court to take up the case after the consequential Dobbs decision, which prompted weeks of protests by activists, threats to conservative justices, and overall a dramatic drop in public favorability in the Supreme Court as an institution, according to recent polls.
“This Court should grant the writ to finally determine whether prenatal life, at any gestational age, enjoys constitutional protection — considering the full and comprehensive history and tradition of our Constitution and law supporting personhood for unborn human beings,” the petitioners wrote in their request to the high court.
Opponents of personhood laws say they could override rights to contraception and in vitro fertilization, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
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Some states, including Arizona, have attempted to enact personhood laws, though courts have blocked such measures from going into effect.
A Christian pastor in the Ohio House of Representatives recently proposed a measure that would ban abortion from the moment of conception.
